“Secrets lie beneath the surface…

Two men, seemingly unconnected, are discovered dead in a holiday boat on the Norfolk Broads, having apparently committed suicide together.

Local journalist Alex Devlin, planning an article on the dangers of internet suicide forums, starts digging into their backgrounds.

But Alex’s investigation soon leads her to a much darker mystery – one that will hit closer to home than she could possibly have imagined, and place the lives of those she loves in terrible danger.”

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the blog today and to my stop on the Dark Waters blog tour.  Dark Waters is the third book in the Alex Devlin series written by Mary-Jane Riley and published by Killer Reads.  I am absolutely gutted that I haven’t managed to get around to reading this series yet but, thanks to my iron-will (ha!) I have a bit of a blog tour break coming up soon so plan to make a start on The Bad Things (book one in the series) then.

I was fortunate enough to feature a guest post from Mary-Jane Riley back in 2016 as part of my #damppebblestakeover series.  Mary-Jane explains in her brilliant post how the nugget of an idea grows into a book (plus she declares a love of stationery *swoon*).  I wonder, Mary-Jane, have you looked into The Snowflake Method yet?

Anyway, I’m wittering.  To celebrate the release of Dark Waters in eBook I have a STONKING extract to share with you today.  So sit back, move your breakfast/lunch/dinner plate to one side (you’ll thank me!) and enjoy…

The Norfolk Broads – a haven of peace and tranquility simply waiting to be discovered and explored. And a boating holiday on the Broads opens up a world of beauty, cruising through reed marshes, woodland and meadow. Find hidden waterways teeming with wildlife. Moor close to welcoming riverside pubs, quaint villages, and market towns. Choose a Harper’s Holidays cruiser and start unwinding today!

Three Weeks Earlier

Decomposition sets in.

First, both hearts stop beating and the cells and tissues are starved of oxygen. The brain cells are the first to die – all that ‘being’ ended.

Blood drains from the capillaries, pooling in lower-lying parts of the body, staining the skin black. Rigor mortis has been and gone by now, the muscles becoming stiff three hours after death, but within seventy-two hours rigor mortis has subsided. The bodies are cool. They are pliable again.

As the cells die, bacteria begin to break them down. Enzymes in the pancreas cause each organ in each of the bodies to digest itself. Large blisters appear all over the bodies. Green slime oozes from decomposing tissue, and methane and hydrogen sulphide fill the air. Bloody froth trickles from the mouths and noses.

And all this time the insects are enjoying themselves. One fly can lay three hundred eggs on one corpse, and they will hatch within twenty-four hours. The hatching maggots use hooks in their mouths to scoop up any liquid seeping from the bodies. They are efficient, these maggots. Their breathing mechanism is located on the opposite end to their mouths so they can breathe and eat at the same time.

Within a day the maggots reach the second stage of their lives and burrow into the putrefying flesh.

The pleasure cruiser has been tied to the wooden mooring post on Poppy Island for at least three days. There has been no movement. The curtains are drawn. The doors and windows are closed. Somebody will find them soon.

Wowsers, what a brilliant extract!  I hope that’s piqued your interest.  The eBook is available to download now with the paperback to follow towards the end of May so make sure you grab a copy!

Dark Waters by Mary-Jane Riley was published in the UK by Killer Reads | Harper Collins UK on 16th March 2018 and is available in eBook format (please note, the following Amazon and Waterstones links are affiliate links): | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Waterstones | Goodreads |

Mary-Jane wrote her first story on her newly acquired blue Petite typewriter. She was eight. It was about a gang of children who had adventures on mysterious islands, but she soon realised Enid Blyton had cornered that particular market. So she wrote about the Wild West instead. When she grew up she had to earn a living, and became a BBC radio talk show presenter and journalist. She has covered many life-affirming stories, but also some of the darkest events of the past two decades. Mary-Jane has three grown-up children and lives in Suffolk with her husband and two golden retrievers.

DARK WATERS is her third crime thriller featuring investigative journalist, Alex Devlin.

Author Links: | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |